I hope the OkayPlayers don’t get their hemp boxers all up in a bunch. I still fucks with the Roots on the regulack, and I will definitely be at their next NYC performance.
Friday night I organized a small junket of DP Dot Com heads to go in to see the Roots perform at the Apollo Theatre. I’ve seen them at the Apollo previously for a Black August benefit a few years back(ROSARIO DAWSON nearly kissed me – true story). As a matter of fact, I may have seen the Roots perform live as much as I have seen GEORGE CLINTON and all of his P-Funk incarnations. The number is alot. However, the fellas in my group hadn’t seen them at all, or in a looooong time.
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40 Dawg 40 went to Temple U. and he remembers when the illaDelphonics were prah’lee called the Acknickulauts since they were the house band for 3xDope. All this to say that Diesel goes way back with the Roots although I don’t think 40 has seen them perform live since he was in college. |
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VEe from Scritch & Scratch This was VEe’s virgin Roots show. Check his link above to take a look at the artwork he is creating to herald the proposed Wu Tang vs. Shaolin project this summer. |
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P-City a/k/a Master P P also popped his Roots cherry at this concert. Y’all may not remember this but P produced the first two DP Dot Com videos. This joint where G DUBBZ tells the victims of Hurricane Starrkeysha to shake their ass and show him what they are working with is a classic. |
I was hoping that the Roots would do their typical guest-filled marathon. The Roots have trademarked themselves as the most incredible Hip-Hop experience on stage and for the last fifteen years I haven’t seen anyone top their best. Not Public Enemy, nor the Wu. Friday night’s show was all about the Roots though. It wasn’t a BlackStarr reunion or an OkayPlayer jam session. It was just the Roots and that alone is worth the price of my ticket.
But what the fuck is up with an 83 minute set? Am I wrong to expect the Roots to perform for at least two hours? How about at least 90 minutes? I needed one more song to show my friends that these dudes were indeed the truth. In reality Black Thought had already sewn that shit up for them. You need to recognize this man as the greatest emcee alive. Black Thought is a beast of a rapper, but even bigger than that he is an M.C. Microphone Controller.
All of the Roots are master musicians in their own right, but Black Thought exceeds even ?uestLove because he is using the oldest musical instrument known to man. The human voice. Black Thought stretches his trachea, larynx and lips past the tipping point. His lyric spacing moves from single shot punchlines up to semi-automatic semantics. Sunn is straight ill-MATIC in a full metal ski jacket.
Star
Don’t Say Nuthin’
Boom!
If you haven’t yet seen the Roots perform live then you are missing one hell of a band throw down and clearly one of, if not the greatest emcee to hold a microphone.
Even when their set is only 83 minutes.
I had the pleasure to witness The Roots over the summer @ a liquor sponsored event. Chrisette Michelle did her thing as well. It was my first time to see The Roots as Black Thought did their thing.
I almost got into a fight with the bald photographer from AHH though. Fucker.
D, I stay arguing with people about The Roots being awesome performers and not getting the credit for their connection with the audience.
I shoulda attended the Uptown shindig… Bummer.
^ Yeah Mo you gotta hang out again. You having one of those industry relationship breakups when everywhere you go you see ol’ boy?
Get over it. Let him see you having fun. If he was the reason that you got into everything for free then I feel you for not coming out. It’s hard to go back to plebian lifestyle after being a celebrity. That’s why I’m lucky that I only have virtual reality celeb status. My fat ass hopped the train after the show.
The Roots used to always troop out to B’more back in the mid 90’s to do shows. I used to have this alternate version of The Notic on tape that was waay different form the D’Angelo version. It was longer and I think a guy and girl sang on it although the dude had a solo to start it off for the first minute of it. This was back in January 1996 and I taped it off of Morgan State’s college radio station.
The legendary Roots crew are beasts live. Only 83 minutes? Word? That’s like some Cloverfield or Jumper type shit.
One.
Word D… That’s straight truth. F that nigga!
I do need to get back on my shit again.
I’m working on it.
Seeing The Roots is on my list of things to do before I die….that and almost getting kissed by Rosario Dawson. I’ll take an “almost” from her. I’ve been sweating her since Kids, word to Sunday Bloody Sunday.
They went for almost that long as an opening act few summers back. Live, in concert? Best other groups were Wu in 2006 and for real the Nappy Roots at UCF closer to 04 or 05.
Country motherfuckers had the crowd going even when 20 minutes of local boredom aka Smilez and Southstar opened. Those two had the crowd going less than the Atkins Diet.
Also Black Thought may end up going down in history as the most underrated MC ever. He’s hip-hop’s equivalent to Bernard King (pre-injury)
I was at the Apollo show that night. The shorty with me, the random heads I spoke to on my way to the door, and myself all were disappointed in the way the show started and ended. Wham, Bam, Thank You Fans…and they was out. They didn’t do any of the original Roots joints. 1/3 of the show was them rocking other peoples joints. And then just like that they were gone with no further ado.
*was actually kissed by Rosario Dawson*
(happened on the N Train circa 2000 – true story)
Actually the last Roots show I caught was when they recorded their live album at the Hammerstein Ballroom. It was opened by Macy Gray (aka Erica Cartman), and Gang Starr tore it down. Even Pootie Tang was in the house.
Shout out to the Seville Lounge on Two-Six and 7th. I was great to get a drink in the “Old Harlem” before seeing a show at the Apollo. Word to Guy Fisher.
It was worth my nickel and dimes!
I know I’m checking for them again. The covers was incredible, his G-Rap steez was bananas. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cat on stage with that much energy, but I guess I need to check out Busta, or DMX go crazy on stage. Peoples need to know that Chuck D may be a true veteran but he still rocks better than most on stage.
Black Thought = Straight MC Beast
40 Says:
February 24th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
*was actually kissed by Rosario Dawson*
(happened on the N Train circa 2000 – true story)
Did you say “who got game now?”
Down comes the John Starks poster, up goes the 40 poster. There goes my hero (c) Foo Fighters.
I said the same, set seemed way too short (I was at the 11PM)
While they were hustling us out, the (hella gracious and professional) Apollo staff mentioned something about overtime kicking in if we weren’t cleared out before 1AM, so maybe this was one of those *union rules* things, like how mad shows in NY get cut off abruptly at 11PM cuz that’s when union overtime kicks in for concert staff..
Yeah man, I needed just one more song. I was fiend’t.
Funny story, true story is that I was arguing with El Gringo Colombiano one day because he said that Black Thought did all the vocals on ‘Boom!’.
I was like, “nigga please”, and he was like “GTFOH!”. I forget where I saw them right after that argument but Black Thought went thru a medley of impressions and then he did the song ‘Boom!’. I was like, “GTFOH!”
I had to send Gringo a pair of kicks for that, and because he built the cRap Music Fantasy League Spreadsheet.
Hands down the best shows I’ve ever been to were the roots.
Dallas –
Years from now when you see me selling pints of blood in order to get money for The Roots show, you’ll only have yourself to blame.
I spent all day downloading mp3s at therootslive_dotcom, by the way
Dallas,
good call on the quick review of the ROOTS CREW show…for sure one of the best live performances you will ever see…Seen them now a good handful of times and have never even been close to disappointed, although an 83 min set would piss me off a tid bit…Overall I have to say the only show I’d rather see live than the Roots would be the mafukin Godfather himself James to the mafukin Brown!!! Now that is a performance that really cant be topped even by the almighty Roots Crew
Top 5 concerts I have seen…
5) P-Funk at the old Studio 54. The show started after midnite and ended at daybreak(5:30). Some random chick passed me a chalice of that ooo-wee. I danced my ass off.
4) The Roots headline Spitkicker with DeLa Soul,ATCQ, Common, Blackstarr, BizMarkie and Badu at Roseland Ballroom. Imagine a night of 2000 people singing some of Hip-Hop’s greatest songs. Again, I was also very high.
3) James Brown with Chaka Khan at Rumsey Playfield. The Godfather lived up to his legendary stature and I had to sneak in the joint from the backside. This was pre 9-11 NYC.
2) Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. I fucking won like I always have. Mos Def showed me love at the super VIP checkpoint and from there on I was going all through that piece. The baked salmon in craft services was sublime. The Roots are magicians. Dave Chappelle was a wizard. Brooklyn was most definitely Kings County. And yes, the kid was tweaked.
1) The 25th anniversary of the mothership connection. George Clinton and P-Funk featuring Bernie Worrell and Bootsy Collins. DeLa, and Q-Tip came out did some songs. Five hours of twenty plus musicians and singers just getting down for the crown. The coup de grace was when the Mothership came down. I got so fucked the fuck up that I lost my shit. I still haven’t found my shit.
“If skills sold truth be told”
Black Thought is the Illest. Black Thought is the GOAT MC. Real talk no stannery.
15 years, 7 studio albums, 200 shows/year
0 fall-offs, 0 fake retirements, 0 wack verses, 0 sell-out corny verses.
flows great on all types of beats that Questo & the Roots come up with, from jazz-rap to east coast boom-bap shyt to opera shyt to neo-soul to hard rock to trip-hop to electronica to even Scottish bag-pipe music (“Do You Want More”)
many flows, including other rapper flows like Dallas mentioned Kool G Rap. Not just rap flows, also singing, to scat [||]-jazz vocals like Louis Armstrong.
Nas, Jay-Z, & all the other supposed GOAT candidates, saw how Black Thought murked Big Pun on Pun’s own shyt, “Super Lyrical” back in 1998. RIP to Pun BTW, tied for the GOAT Boricuo MC along with Chino XL. Anyways, after seeing Thought murk Pun, Nas & Jay are too scared to rap on a song with Thought. That’s why Def Jam CEO Joe Camel did not guest rap with Thought on 2006’s Game Theory.